How Can New Grad RN gain experience to land a job as a RN

SuperwomenRN · Jul 4, 2014

When I was in nursing school I knew someone that finish nursing school a year and half and couldn't land a job. The person had to end up working a the gas station ( no disrespect) because the person had to work pay the bills some how. I never understood this, i even ask did you volunteer, get BSN and the person told me they did all of that. The person just keep telling me me it is really hard to land a job because everyone was mostly asking for experience RN. Finally, they did landed a job 2 years later which I am happy for the person, because someone gave them a chance.

It is frustrating, and I am not giving up the fight to land a job as a RN. All I am saying is give us new grad RN a chance too.

P.S. This is not a post to cause an argument btw experience RN and New grad RN. Remember we are all same thing regardless Regiestered Nurses. Thanks.

Dp1126 · Jul 4, 2014

The same thing happened with me. Although it might not be what you want to do, nursing homes and rehabilitation hospitals will sometimes hire new graduates. I was lucky enough to be hired as a new grad at an acute rehab hospital and although a lot of places don't consider that med surg experience it's better then nothing and you leant to prioritize and deal with patients. Also if you really can't get a nursing job try to apply for a nursing assistant job just to get your foot in the door. A lot of hospitals are more likely to hire from within!

JuliaRNMSN · Jul 5, 2014

Dp1126 is right and I agree. Another suggestion would be to volunteer where you really believe you would like to work. I know it is not paying any money however, it demonstrates something about you. It also could be done in conjunction with any work such as nursing assistant as Dp1126 suggested. Hospitals have many jobs that are non nursing but their internal postings are accessible and it is a great way to learn about the units and network.

Gentleman_nurse, MSN · Jul 6, 2014

This is what I fear about the nursing profession. You have much talent going to waste. I hate comparing it to physicians but when is the last time you heard about unemployed doctors.

estrellaCR, BSN, RN · Jul 14, 2014

There are no unemployed doctors because medical schools have a cap on how many students they accept. Some nursing schools do also such as the CUNYs, ie Hunter College where i went, they graduate 80 new grads per year. But others like the big private universities NYU (as per what NYU students doing clinicals at my old job told me)...they graduate like 300 new grads per Semester. Its crazy with a job market like this to be putting out so many new grads who will have hard time getting employed just because they have no experience.

Anyways, how u can get experience....be open to where you want to work. Look for clinics, home care, foster care agencies with medical programs, rehab facilities etc. My first RN job was in clinic and I was hired one month after NCLEX (i didnt start applying until i took NCLEX because they all want a license before interviewing you). Eight months later I was interview and hired at a city hospital in Brooklyn. IM a BSN however I was hired along with ASNs who are enrolled in a BSN program. So enroll in BSN program ASAP. And if finances allow take certifications such as IV, ACLS, PALS etc.

laynaER · Jul 14, 2014

The recent hires at my job have been volunteers! It sucks to say that we are now in an age where simply just applying is not enough. It has become all about who you know. My advice would be to contact your local hospital's volunteer office, sign up to volunteer, and volunteer on a unit you're interested in working on. When a position opens up, you may be the first person who comes to the hiring manager's mind. Learn as much as you can by helping out a nurse, show initiative, and help out as much as you can. Hang in there. Something's got to give. I went through the same thing when I was looking for a job 4 years ago. I remained patient and didn't give up.

estrellaCR, BSN, RN · Jul 15, 2014

Volunteering does Not guarantee a job. You may be a great volunteer but it wont get you a job. It all depends on the hospital and unit you volunteer one...some managers like to hire volunteer and others do not...either they seek experience or let Human Resources prescreen the applicants. I and several former classmates of mine volunteered at hospitals before getting a job and it did not help us in getting a job. The only person that got hired from the unit and hospital I volunteered at was a girl that took the Manager to lunch ...kind of like bribery but it worked for her. And she was not hired on the unit we volunteered at but at a very different one. However, the experience did help me in my interview for my current job which is not at the hospital i volunteered. The Asst Director liked my volunteer experience.

Volunteering is good to build experience of what patient needs are in hospital ( ps u will not get clinical experience from this , you will just assist in responding to call bells and passing out supplies) and also to spend the time while you are waiting for places to call you for interview. I was working full time at my old job while volunteering once a week at hospital.

Gentleman_nurse, MSN · Jul 15, 2014

There are no unemployed doctors because medical schools have a cap on how many students they accept. Some nursing schools do also such as the CUNYs, ie Hunter College where i went, they graduate 80 new grads per year. But others like the big private universities NYU (as per what NYU students doing clinicals at my old job told me)...they graduate like 300 new grads per Semester. Its crazy with a job market like this to be putting out so many new grads who will have hard time getting employed just because they have no experience.

Exactly my point

Gentleman_nurse, MSN · Jul 15, 2014

The recent hires at my job have been volunteers! It sucks to say that we are now in an age where simply just applying is not enough. It has become all about who you know. My advice would be to contact your local hospital's volunteer office, sign up to volunteer, and volunteer on a unit you're interested in working on. When a position opens up, you may be the first person who comes to the hiring manager's mind. Learn as much as you can by helping out a nurse, show initiative, and help out as much as you can. Hang in there. Something's got to give. I went through the same thing when I was looking for a job 4 years ago. I remained patient and didn't give up.

What type of hospital? Some places have a bureaucratic hiring process. Even if they love you, the manager will get a stack of screened resumes from HR and told to pick. Use volunteering for getting a close inside look of the environment to gather information. Think of it as a long term information interview.

DoGoodThenGo · Jul 15, 2014

This is what I fear about the nursing profession. You have much talent going to waste. I hate comparing it to physicians but when is the last time you heard about unemployed doctors.

To be clear a properly licensed physician does not need to be "employed" by anyone. He or she depending upon their specialty can set up a practice (office) and thus are self-employed.

Not every physician needs or even wants to work in or with (as in having admitting privileges ) a hospital. My own excellent and top rated GP hasn't had admitting privileges in years and has no intention on starting again.

Just as with everything else not every doctor can be on the "A" or even "B" team. There are plenty of "C", "D" or worse doctors in NYS working in grubby private or group practice. That or they find employment in places that are such hellholes that no decent physician would set foot in the place. Finally there are the ones that you'll see examples on the news every now and then arrested for everything from Medicare/Medicaid fraud to running script mills.

Nurses at least those without AP status unlike doctors must be employed by some sort of facility or institution. There are some RNs who do things outside hospitals but by and large there you are.

DoGoodThenGo · Jul 15, 2014

There are no unemployed doctors because medical schools have a cap on how many students they accept. Some nursing schools do also such as the CUNYs, ie Hunter College where i went, they graduate 80 new grads per year. But others like the big private universities NYU (as per what NYU students doing clinicals at my old job told me)...they graduate like 300 new grads per Semester. Its crazy with a job market like this to be putting out so many new grads who will have hard time getting employed just because they have no experience.
Anyways, how u can get experience....be open to where you want to work. Look for clinics, home care, foster care agencies with medical programs, rehab facilities etc. My first RN job was in clinic and I was hired one month after NCLEX (i didnt start applying until i took NCLEX because they all want a license before interviewing you). Eight months later I was interview and hired at a city hospital in Brooklyn. IM a BSN however I was hired along with ASNs who are enrolled in a BSN program. So enroll in BSN program ASAP. And if finances allow take certifications such as IV, ACLS, PALS etc.

All nursing programs have a "cap" on open slots each semester. It has been that way for ages and will continue. Rather than some arbitrary number nursing classes sizes are based upon the resources (professors, clinical instructors, clinical sites, etc...) the program has available.

Good as HB's nursing program is the thing is still part of CUNY and thus must work within the framework of a budget that is determined elsewhere.

NYU OTOH can take in huge classes because rather than small settings the program relies heavily upon lecture hall type classes. If sitting in a lecture with >100 students is something you can handle then there you are. Also from what one is hearing NYU has excellent labs and that is where many students do a good amount of clinical time in lieu of hospital.

Other than allowing themselves to be used for clinical sites hospitals in NYC as elsewhere do not have that much to do with nursing education. This also goes the other way around. Nursing schools are in the business of education. The best they can offer is to well prepare students for the board exam and give a firm foundation to begin their practice. While sad it really comes down to after graduation you are pretty much on your own. Neither NYU or Beth Israel make any promises to students of those nursing programs about employment.